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'Young Justice' Premiering on Cartoon Network This Friday

Justice League Unlimited fans waiting for a spiritual successor to Bruce Timm's work are about to be satisfied. Cartoon Network is airing a one-hour premiere of Young Justice, which follows the adventures of teenage counterparts to DC headliners Batman, Superman, Aquaman, the Flash and Green Arrow.

Based on the DC comic and similar fare like Teen Titans (not to be confused with the more goofy cartoon series of the same name), Young Justice follows the Dick Grayson version of Robin, Kid Flash, Aqualad, Miss Martian, Superboy and Green Arrow proteges Speedy and Artemis.

Fans afraid of a return to the kid-friendly antics of the last series to feature these characters needn't worry: the six-minute preview from MTV's Splash Page features a more serious art style and plenty of input from DC headliners.

While DC Universe mastermind Bruce Timm isn't directly involved with the project (he's busy on the new animated Green Lantern, set to premier around the same time as the movie), Sam Register of Batman: The Brave and the Bold and Greg Weisman of Gargoyles are part of the production team.

The series isn't part of the former Justice League Unlimited continuity or any of the recent DC Universe animated features. To avoid weighty continuity issues and better focus on the younger characters, Young Justice is set on Earth-16. This should allow the story room to breathe while keeping familiar heroes and villains available for future episodes and arcs.

You can take a look at the trailer below:

In the pilot, the young heroes are set up as a covert ops branch of the Justice League, able to carry out more subtle, nuanced missions than the heavy-hitters in the JLA main lineup. The hour-long special looks to feature the reveal of Superboy in his 90s-era Superman clone form, to avoid conflicting with CW's long-running Smallville. Unlike the Teen Titans cartoon and the various comics, Aqualad will lead the squad instead of Robin.